Adorning Sovereignty of Ourselves, 2023, Stainless Steel and Human Hair
This crown is meticulously crafted from hair, standing as an embodiment of a proposed reclamation and redefinition of longstanding power structures.
Adorning Sovereignty of Ourselves links ideas of beauty and disruption, finding the intersection between these ideas as too, the connection between self and personal sovereignty. The discarded material of hair is used to disrupt our notions of beauty by re-positioning fallen hair, an otherwise detested by-product of the body, amongst metal fixtures to create wearable jewellery. The transformation underscores the intimate link between that of personal identity and the traditional material elements of jewellery. Through this piece, viewers are invited to contemplate the intrinsic power woven into each strand of their hair, as well as their own being, and to find an ownership within their authentic beauty.
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Living and working on Gadigal land, Sophie Dohnt dissects and reveals the interplay between personal and social value systems through jewellery and object-centred performance. Challenging preconceived notions of beauty, Sophie seeks to continue conversations of resistance through feminist notions of the wearable whilst examining self-appraisal of objects.